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What White Gold Mixture Does Macy''s use?

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CaratMan

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I was wondering if anyone happened to know what WG mixture (Nickel WG or Palladium WG) Macy''s uses for their fine jewelery? I assume that it would be Nickel WG, but I wanted to see if anyone knew for sure. My GF has a channel set 14K WG band from Macy''s that she has been wearing daily for 2+ years now and it is still very white and has never been re-dipped. I am getting a custom e-ring made for her in 14K WG, so I would like to go with the same mixture for durability/appearance reasons. I am getting it made through WF and I can choose between Nickel WG and Pd WG (a little bit more). Thank you for the help!
 

oldmancoyote

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Indipendently of what Macy''s uses, I''d recommend going with the palladium alloy, particularly if she intends wearing the ring daily. Both will be white (in fact, high nickel gold alloys are whiter than high pd alloys), but palladium is truly hypoallergenic. Even if she is not having any issues now, continued contact with nickel-based alloys may cause sensitisation and allergic reactions to set in; sometimes it may take years for anything to happen (and sometimes nothing ever happens), but I would not run the risk if I had the option.
 

oldminer

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I sort of doubt that Macy''s goes to the level of specifying what alloy is in "their" white gold jewelry. Big firms like these tend to buy from big vendors who make pretty much the same things for many large users. Macy''s may specify the degree of "whiteness" required for their white gold products, but probably does not get into the specific alloy mixtures. I would imagine diffreent vendors sell them differing alloy mixes and no one really cares as it makes VERY little difference. If you do get a special alloy in a ring, then anyone who sizes or repairs it may need to use some special solder or techniques when working on it, too. One additional element of confusion often adds to the complexity.
 

DrDiamondsGG

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I used to work for Macy*s in their fine jewelry department. Indeed Macy*s does purchase and memo jewelry from many different vendors. There are no specific requirements for their white gold alloys with which I''m familiar. Really the only way to know which alloy they use besides an assay test is to try to figure out what vendor made the piece through their hallmark. I also recommend going with a Pd alloy, but the others are right; the nickel alloy will be whiter.
 

CaratMan

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Date: 4/17/2009 3:52:41 PM
Author: DrDiamondsGG
I used to work for Macy*s in their fine jewelry department. Indeed Macy*s does purchase and memo jewelry from many different vendors. There are no specific requirements for their white gold alloys with which I''m familiar. Really the only way to know which alloy they use besides an assay test is to try to figure out what vendor made the piece through their hallmark. I also recommend going with a Pd alloy, but the others are right; the nickel alloy will be whiter.
Do you recommend plated or non-plated (rhodium) WG/Pd alloy? I wanted to go with plated 14k wg/Pd but was told that instead of wearing off only in high-contact areas of the ring as nickel WG does, the rhodium wears off in various spots around the ring leaving dark spots where the wg/Pd is showing through. Any thoughts?
 
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